Distinguished Wharton School of business in Philadelphia is now offering full scholarships to Israeli MBA students. The money for the scholarships comes from a $10 million endowment made by the Yuri and Julia Milner Foundation.
The money will be used for the new Friends of Israel MBA Fund, which will provide full-tuition and financial support to Israeli MBA students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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“Yuri’s philanthropy has been as visionary as his distinguished business career. He is one of the founders of the acclaimed Breakthrough Prize, which recognizes pioneering achievements in the sciences,” said Penn President Amy Gutmann. “Now, with his exceptional gift creating the Friends of Israel MBA Fund, the foundation through Yuri and Julia has created another forward-looking philanthropic initiative. We are profoundly grateful to Yuri and to the foundation for supporting the graduate students who will become tomorrow’s global business leaders.”
“Israel has become a global center of innovation and Wharton has long helped train the top entrepreneurs and business leaders across the world. This is a perfect match,” said Ron Dermer, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States. “As a Wharton alumnus, I’m delighted that other Israelis will benefit from this unique experience.”
“We are thrilled by the foundation’s commitment to supporting the best and brightest MBA candidates from the Israeli community,” said Dean Erika James. “As part of the Wharton family, Mr. Milner’s dedication to welcoming international talent advances the School’s mission to foster a diverse and inclusive student cohort benefitting the entire community.”
Yuri Milner is an Israeli-Russian science and technology investor and philanthropist. He attended Wharton in the 1990s and went on to found DST Global, one of the world’s leading technology investors, with a portfolio that includes some of the most prominent internet companies.
Yuri and his wife Julia partnered with Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, and Anne Wojcicki to launch the Breakthrough Prizes – the world’s largest scientific awards, honoring important, primarily recent, achievements in Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences, and Mathematics.
In July 2016, together with Stephen Hawking, Yuri launched the $100 million Breakthrough Listen initiative to reinvigorate the search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the universe, and in April 2016 they launched Breakthrough Starshot – a $100 million research and engineering program seeking to develop a technology for interstellar travel.
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students.
Read more about: DST Global, Philanthropy, Yuri Milner
